


Pain Like Never Before

by AltheNerd, Lokislittlearmy, WitchBoyWriter



Category: Power Rangers Battle Strike
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Deadnamed, Homophobic Language, Multi, Past Rape/Non-con, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-04
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-22 01:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17653673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AltheNerd/pseuds/AltheNerd, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokislittlearmy/pseuds/Lokislittlearmy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchBoyWriter/pseuds/WitchBoyWriter
Summary: Soulmate AU where soulmates have meters on their wrist that mark the others' distress. They hurt when the soulmate is in a lot of distress.Haruka dies before their soulmates even meet them.





	1. Jay

Jay is in tenth grade when one of his soulmates dies.

The meter on his left wrist starts ticking up as he’s screwing a part onto his latest creation. It’s the last period, a long study hall, and Sophia is holding up a panel for him. She’s telling him about this new guy she met and how great he is, and how she wants to invite him over for game night.

“Game night’s not really...relationship friendly.” He doesn’t want to be a third wheel.

“Oh, no, it’s not like that. I’m pretty sure he’s gay.” Sophia winks at him over the panel.

Jay wrinkles his nose. “I’m not exactly in a good place for that. You know that, Soph.” He shakes out his left hand as the other starts tingling. They’re always worried for the others.

Sophia frowns and shifts to look at him. “Your soulmates again?”

“Yeah. Left is still where they usually are. Right is worried.”

“Same as usual.”

Jay nods and picks up another screw. “Once I meet them, I’m going to put one of them up in a nice hotel and the other in counseling.” Just as he finishes that sentence, he drops the screw. His hand flies to his left wrist and he bends over.

Sophia drops the panel and rushes to his side. “Jay? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Nurse,” he wheezes out. He rushes out, hoping Sophia can deal with the teacher. He hears her heels clicking down the hall behind him, so apparently she did.

He slides into the office and is in the recliner before the nurse can get a word out. He’s tearing his bracelets off. This is the first time he’s been really, truly afraid for either soulmate in years. Because as much as he can tell himself that they’re just two other humans who he’s probably compatible with on a chemical level, they’re still two humans. Out there.

And judging by the bright red coloring his left wrist, one of them is definitely dying. 

Sophia rubs his shoulder as she tells the nurse what’s going on. Both of his wrists are burning. He knows he’s no better now, worried as he is. Even Sophia sounds miles away. Even as the adrenaline meter on his left wrist starts to go down and spike, the right one stays constant and Jay can’t help but try to figure out what his soulmates are doing right now. 

The one on the right wrist is probably exactly as he is right now. Hunched over his arm, staring at his wrist, hoping it’s not actually that severe and that the other third was just surprised. 

“Maybe he’s getting help, and he doesn’t like ambulances.” Sophia still sounds far away. “It’ll be okay.” She wipes tears from his face.

Jay didn’t even know he was crying.

Every time the meter spikes, the other meter spikes in response. He can imagine it’s the same for the soulmate that’s physically alright.

And then the meter goes blank. 

Jay has the briefest moment of relief. Less stress. No pain. The meter is down and everything is alright.

It takes that brief moment to process what just happened. It’s not blank because his soulmate is okay. It always takes both soulmates so long to calm down. It would never go down that fast.

His soulmate is dead.

Jay knows he’s shaking only because he can see his arm. Sophia’s arms wrap around him. The first thing he feels is his own wracking sobs. He hears himself gasping for air. He wants the pain in his wrist back, he already misses it. Because even though his soulmate was distressed, they weren’t dead.

God fucking damn it. Now he’d never even get to meet the guy, let alone develop a relationship. It’s one thing to choose not to believe in soulmates. It’s another to have them ripped away.

His right wrist is searing in panic. He’s never wanted to be with either of them more. To even know who his soulmate was…

His left wrist tingles again. He wipes his tears away to look at his wrists. He breathes a real sigh of relief. His left wrist has color again. And yeah, they’re still distressed or in pain or scared, but this feels so much better.

The next breath that comes out of his mouth is a laugh of disbelief. Jay collapses into Sophia’s arms, well aware that he’s sobbing into her collarbone. All he can think is that his soulmate, whoever he is, is alright. And they’re going to see each other eventually.


	2. Braeden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Braeden's POV

Braeden’s soulmate marks were a little different than most of his friends for two reasons: First, he had two. And second, one of his was… almost consistently in the red.

When he was younger, he’d done research on whether or not soulmates had to be romantic, and was beyond relieved when he found out that they could be platonic instead. That meant he’d never have to choose between Righty and Lefty.

He had gotten used to a certain amount of red on his left arm, and of course it was… constantly stressful. But for the most part, he’d gotten used to it. Righty was pretty safe most of the time, and it was… almost comforting to see that one spike in the rare case they were both stressed about Lefty. And he knew he would find these people, and… they’d be friends, and take care of each other.  

He barely thought about the marks anymore, unless it was spiked particularly high. He was in his English class in his sophomore year of high school when it hit its worst point. He had a hoodie on, so he wasn’t even paying attention to the meters on his arm until suddenly he could _feel_ it. That had… never happened before. He lets out a soft sound of surprise, and drops his pencil. His friend next to him shoots him a look, but doesn’t say anything. He pulls his sleeve back. Oh. _Fuck._ That was higher then he’d ever seen it. He turns to his friend. “Tell her I had an emergency if she asks.” He whispers, in reference to the teacher, before getting up and leaving.

He hurries to the bathroom, pulling out his phone and messaging Amanda on Snapchat as he walks.

**_BrayFry98: SOS_ **

**_BrayFry98: Need u_ **

He goes to the athletic wing, where the big, single-stall bathrooms were, and goes inside, reading Amanda’s reply.

**_A-manta-ray: Coming. Where are u????_ **

He sends a picture of his arm with the next message.

**_BrayFry98: Gym br._ **

He puts his phone back in his pocket. His left arm _hurt_ , and the right was starting, to, also. They had never hurt before. Was Lefty okay? Was she dying??? He glances at the right arm. That one was… also pretty high. Righty was probably worried, too. He didn’t find the usual comfort in that, though. Not while Lefty is dying. The bathroom door opens after a second, And he looks up, seeing Amanda. Thank God.

“Bray, you should go to the nurse.” She says, urgently. He barely heard her, he was too focused on his soulmates. “ _Braeden._ Nurse.” She says again, and he numbly nods.

Then the pain stops, and his heart stops with it. He looks down at his wrist, and Right’s still pretty high, but Left is… gone. If he wasn’t already panicking, he would be now.

“Fuck. Fuck, Amanda, she’s dead.” He says, and Amanda puts a hand on him.

“Bray, maybe they stabilized you don’t know—”

“No. It wouldn’t go down so quick…” His right is hurting more, but he doesn’t even feel it. Just the emptiness of the left. His vision is blurred, and he realizes he’s probably crying. He can feel Amanda pulling him towards the nurse, and he lets her. It didn’t matter anyway. One of the two people in the universe he was destined to be compatible with was _gone_ , and he’d never even get a chance to meet her.

He can hear Amanda’s voice trying to cut through the fog of his brain, but he can’t understand her words. All he can focus on is the contrast of his wrists, until suddenly. The left starts to prick again.

“ _Oh.”_ He stops in his tracks, looking down. The red was back. She was _alive._ “She’s okay.” He lets out a relieved sob. “She’s alive.” He’s still beyond stressed, but seeing both red bars on his wrist again was a relief. He hugs Amanda. “She’s okay. They’re both okay.” He repeats, mostly for himself. Both wrists still stung, but that was actually comforting, now. They were all alive, and they were all okay.

“You’re okay, too, Bray. Take a breath.” Amanda says softly. He pulls away after a moment, looking down at his wrists. Righty was going down, and Lefty was… stable and there. Thank God. Someday, he would find these people, but for now, he was just glad they were both okay.


	3. Haruka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What really happened

Haruka was nervous, more nervous than they ever had been before. There "Karen" was coming to visit them, and well, let's just say it has been a while. Haruka passed outside of the coffee shop that Karen had chosen, waiting, for what seemed like hours before she finally showed up. They rubbed unconsciously at their wrists, the only fidget that could calm them down just a little bit. Haruka pulled out their Nokia and looked for Karen’s messages only to find they had none since three days ago. Haruka rubbed at their forehead knowing that Karen was always on time unless something came up. Which meant something probably came up. Haruka never liked contacting their family, but here they are typing out a message to Karen, asking where she was like some child left home alone.  
Putting their phone away they decided to head into the shop and at least get a table while waiting. After getting a Green Tea, they sit down and send another text to Karen about where they are seated. Looking around the shop Haru noticed why Karen had called them out here instead of somewhere near where they lived. Everyone here was a business person or a prep. What do you expect from some pretentious coffee shop named The Bean Spot? Haruka rolled their eyes and looked toward the door where lone behold there Karen was standing looking for them. “Good thing I wore my nice shoes today..” Haruka thought to themself.  
“Hyun, there you are. This is the worst town to find a parking spot let me tell you. Oh, you look...why are you dressed like that? I thought we already taught you that boys can’t wear girl’s clothes.” Karen says walking over to them.  
“Karen look, I don’t know why you called me out here while on a business trip, but stop acting like my mother. You already did a long time ago. Also, this is comfortable and classy, so at least those standards are met.” Haruka says as calm as possible, “You know that hasn’t been my name for a long time.” They finish glancing up from behind their glasses.  
“Oh Sweetie, you know that I still love you, just not when you’re dressed like some faggot. Didn’t your uncle teach you the consequences of that?” Karen states as she sits.  
Haruka glanced at their phone clock, this was going to take a while.

~~~~

Haruka was fuming as they walked Karen to the crosswalk near her car. They had never felt so belittled in their life! All Karen talked about was how horrible of a son they were and how much better her daughter was. Now Karen wanted to end things for good once they parted ways. The nerve of this woman, Karen should be lucky Haruka doesn’t push her into moving traffic.  
Approaching the crosswalk Karen turns to her once son. “Well, I hope you’re happy being this...this fag. Good thing you left home when you did you would have been a horrible influence on Katie. Anyway, good luck with your job as a professional cock pleaser.” Karen says as she starts across the street.  
Haruka kept quiet, knowing if they gave into anything Karen was saying they would regret it. Haruka watched as Karen crossed the street, not realizing the hell that was about to happen.  
Suddenly screeching tires were heard from down the street. Haruka turned to see a silver Mercedes speeding down the street, not looking to stop for anything; especially with the police chasing them. Haruka turned towards where Karen was crossing, noticing she had stopped because she had dropped something. They acted before thinking.  
“Mom!”  
Crash! Screech! Crunch! Bang!  
The world went red, then black, then nothing at all.

~~~

The scene left on that street was horrifying to any bystander. Karen looked back to where her "son" had pushed her out of the way of the vehicle, only to see blood and metal left. The police scrambled out of their vehicles toward the one now stopped. Pulling out their guns and calling for the driver to get out of the car. Onlookers filming on their phones none knowing what to do in the situation. Karen stood up from her position on the ground, took out her phone and called 911.  
Several minutes later when the ambulances arrived on scene, Karen was forced to be attended by the medical professionals. She hadn’t called them for herself, but for her "son" under the wreck. Karen never even realized she had been crying until one of the medics told her to take a calming breath. Which she did, but that caused her to start sobbing. Karen tried to tell them that there was her son under the wreck, but no one listened. She never even realized how much she had cared for the fag, hell she had given him to her brother without a second thought. Knowing he knew how to deal with these things. Now though, now she was thinking on how she should have tried to hold onto him tighter instead of letting him out of that house. How maybe if there were more punishments he would’ve stayed to try and get better instead of running away with the notion of he could be free out here. Now he was dead and all she had were regrets.  
Out of nowhere someone called out, “Hey there’s someone alive under the car! We need people now!” Medics hurried over at the call, needing to save one innocent soul from this disaster.  
After getting Haruka out of the wreck and into the ambulance, the EMTs tried their best to keep Haruka alive. Haru died for a whole seven minutes in that ambulance. Miraculously the flat line jumped again and Haruka clutched to life. A life they never knew they wanted to live. Now they wanted to live it, now they wanted to meet their soulmates, but they were never going to be the same after that accident.

**Author's Note:**

> *Monty Python voice* "My soulmate died." "Died?" "They got better."


End file.
